When we first heard about Pepsi Jazz, we wondered whether it would be able to compete with all the other flavored (diet) colas on the market, since it seemed to be joining the game a bit late., especially considering that Pepsi said its first flavor would be Black Cherry French Vanilla. After all, Dr Pepper and Coca-Cola already have their cherry-vanilla colas in stores. Pepsi pinned its hopes on loyal fans switching back once their flavors were released.

Thanks to alert reader Kristina, we now know that Jazz is in the markets - at least, it is in Boston. She says that not only has she seen the first-promised Black Cherry Vanilla Pepsi, but other flavors like Strawberries and Cream and LimeBerry. She was able to taste a bottle of the Strawberries and Cream and reported that "it tasted rather a lot like cotton candy... but in a good way." Frankly, it doesn't sound all that appealing, but LimeBerry sounds intriguing.

Has anyone else tried these new flavors yet?

Update: Click here to read a review of Pepsi Jazz Strawberries and Cream.

Today, the American Beverage Association and its members agreed to voluntarily remove sugary sodas from public schools across the country. Companies including Coca-Cola, PepsiCo and Cadbury Schweppes are all members of the ABA. Public high schools that still permit diet sodas will still be able to buy them for their campuses, and they will also be sold drinks that are considered have some nutritional value, juice, sports drinks and low-fat milk, though whole milk will no longer be offered because of its calorie content. Elementary and middle schools will only be sold unsweetened juice, low-fat milk and water. Part of the reason that the soda companies have agreed to this deal, which was made in conjunction with the William J. Clinton Foundation, is that on-campus soda sales make up a very small percentage of their overall sales, not to mention that a voluntary withdrawal looks better, from a PR perspective, than being banned.

Millions of people drink aspartame each day in their diet sodas and other sugar-free foods, though there are many other sweetener options to choose from. The brand name artificial sweeteners made with aspartame include Equal and Nutra-Sweet. In the past, study results have suggested that there might be a link between aspartame consumption and increased risk of some types of cancer, particularly when aspartame consumption was unusually high. Virtually all of these previous studies were in groups of rats, not people, and the amount of aspartame given to rats was up to several times their body weight - a feat which might be physically impossibly to do via diet cola consumption.

A new federal study has looked at people, not rodents, and shows that there was no increased cancer risk from aspartame consumption. The researchers in the study looked at over 500,000 American diets to draw their conclusions. The study has been praised by consumer groups and was presented to the American Association of Cancer research earlier this week. (Our sister blog - The Cancer Blog - is also talking about this study.)

One is every five calories in the American diet comes from a liquid and the biggest component of that set of liquids is soda. Groups of researchers are now working to prove that such sugary drinks are the leading cause of obesity. This isn’t to say that there aren’t other factors at play here, including genetics and overall health, but if soda is reliably shown to be one of the largest contributing factors it could radically change the soda market. Some scientists working on the project hope to see warning labels on cans of soda that are similar to the warnings on cigarette packages.

Others believe that it will be difficult, if not impossible, to prove this theory. Obesity has only recently been considered a disease and it is a disease with a plethora of diverse symptoms and causes. Pinpointing one factor at this stage may not be realistic. This is especially true if researchers really hope to model their campaign against the “empty calories” of soda on the campaign against tobacco products, which took decades to achieve results.